Church at Minisink, on the Delaware River. After a pastorate of ten years he removed to Caughnawaga, N. Y., in 1770, where he contiimed as pastor of the Church until his decease at Mayfield, Montgomery Co., Oct. 22, 1794. He married his second wife, Susannah Van Campen, of Sussex County, N. J., Oct. 3, 1770. Six sons were born of this marriage. Of all his seven sons, four were educated for the ministry — Theodorus Fre- linghuysen, James Van Campen, Benjamin, and Thomas. Benjamin died soon after graduating at Williams Col- lege in 1796. The others were all ordained to the min- istry of their mother Church. Theodorus F. died in 1785, after a single year of service as the beloved pastor of the churches of Bridgewater and Bedminster, N. J. Their venerable father was the first Low-Dutch minis- ter who settled west of Schenectady, in the valley of the Jlohawk. His field of labor, being on the frontier, embraced large portions of what are now Fulton and Montgomery counties, surrounding the old cluirch at Caughnawaga (now Fonda). His duties were conse- quently very arduous and often dangerous, from exjjos- ure to Indians and other pioneer trials. His missionary spirit was accompanied by intense devotion to the lib- eral views of the Coetus, who advocated the education and ordination of the clergy in this country, and inde- pendence of the Church in Holland. During the whole period of the Revolutionary war he was an enthusiastic patriot. His residence on the frontier was the theatre of frequent alarms, murders, and desolations, which often interrupted, and at one time stayed, his ministerial la- bors. He was obliged to flee with all his family into the interior for safety until the danger was passed. He is represented to have been of a mild and patient spirit, " enduring hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ," and unostentatious in his demeanor. As a preacher, he was lucid and winning, strongly attached to the doc- trines of grace as set forth in the standards of his Church, and able in their defence. In the pulpit he was solemn, earnest, and tender. His last illness, for more than a year, was borne with meek submission to the will of God, until his long ministry of forty years was closed by death. His remains were buried in front of the pulpit in the old church where for twenty-four years he had preached the Gospel of Christ.
7. Thomas, J?-., son of Rev. Thomas Romeyn, Sr., was born at Caughnawaga (now Fonda), N. Y., Feb. 22, 1777. Educated in the classics by his brother. Rev. James V. C. Romeyn, and at the Schenectady Academy, he graduated at Williams College, Mass., in Septem- ber, 1796 ; studied theology Avith Dr. Theodoric Romeyn in Schenectady ; was licensed to preach by the Classis of Albany in 1798, and ordained in the Dutch Church of Remsenbush (now Florida), N. Y., in 1800, having the double charge of that congregation and the Second Church of Schenectadj'. In 1806 he accepted the pas- toral care of the churches of Niskaynna and Amity, N. Y., and served them until 1827, when he was disabled bj' a fall, which lamed him for life and compelled him to abandon active duty as a settled minister. He had a large, powerful frame, and was dignified, humorous, courteous, and decided, as well as amiable and transpar- ently honest. His intellect was vigorous, his judgment almost uniformly correct, and his shrewd, pointed, quiet humor gave great zest to his deliberate and thoughtful speech. In the pulpit he was noted for theological ex- actness of statement, for knowledge and apt quotations of Scripture, for deep piety, and for practical usefulness. His attainments were respectable, but his wide influ- ence over a large section of the Church was chiefly due to his thorough knowledge of " the law of the house" and his wisdom as a counsellor and peace-maker. He died Aug. 9, 1859, revered by all who knew him, and in " the full assurance of faith." He was a pillar of the Reformed Church in the valley of the IMohawk.
See Sprague, .4 iinals of the A mer. Pulpit, i v, ix ; Cor- win. Manual of the Ref. Church; Mnf/azine of the Ref, Dutch Chuixh ; Life of Dr. J. U. Licingston ; Taylor,
ROMMEL
119
RONGALA
Annals of the Classis of Bergen ; Fish, Pulpit Eloquence of the lUh Century. (W. J.'k. T.)
Rommel, Diktrich Cmhi.stopher von, the Hes- sian historian, was burn April 17, 1781. For some time he was professor at Marburg, ■lud from 1820 he resided at Cassel as president of the governmental archives. He died in 1859. His historical works are of great im- portance to Church historj'. He published, I'/iilipp der Grossmuthige, Landyraf von IJessen. Kin Beitrag zur genaueren Kunde der Reformation und des 16. Jakr/um- derts (Giessen, 1830, 3 vols.): — Landgraf Philipp der Hochherzige u, die Reformation (Darmst. 184oj : — Kurze Gesch. d. hess, Kirchenverbesserung miter d. Landgr. Philipp d. Gi-ossmilthigen, etc. (Cassel, 1817). See Wi- ner, Handbuch der theulog. Literatur. i, 793; ii, 39; Zuchold, Biblioth. Theol. ii, 1082. (B. P.)
Romcwa, in Prussian mytholog_v, is the sacred place of the ancient Prussians. A civil war had di- vided the native Prussians and the immigrant Skan- dians. Waidewut and Grive, the first king and the first chief priest, had restored peace, and Grive after- wards assembled the people on a beautiful plain on which stood a massive oak with widely spreading branches. Before this tree he had placed three images, which he called Potrimpos, Perkunos, and Pikullos, and declared them to be the supreme gods. Punishments were threatened and rewards promised in their names. Three niches were cut in the oak-tree which had been selected to become the home of the idols, and they were placed there with great solemnity. A pyre was then erected before the tree, from the top of which Grive exhorted the people, and on which sacrifices, including several unmanageable persons, were afterwards burned. A fearful thunder-storm, which the priest declared to be the voice of God, made the people tremble, and caused them to regard Grive with a dread that put them in mortal terror for centuries afterwards when they were obliged to approach him. The place in which this oc- curred was called Romowa. The priests continued to dwell and offer sacrifices there until the increased popu- lation and extension of its territories caused the estab- lishing of other sacred oaks. Christianity ultimately came in and extirpated them all, so that the location of the original Romowa is no longer known. — VoUmer, Wurterb. d. Mgthol. s. v.